It's ready: “our” little marina in Suriname.
Blood, sweat and tears and endless patience with suppliers as it ain't
easy to activate and direct a Surinamese contractor. But with united
forces we have been able to realize the Sailing Club Suriname's dream.
The sailboats are now safely berthed on piles and are accessible by way
of a solid jetty and a floating slipway, from which the club launch,
dinghies and small daysailers can be launched. We have a floating club
house complete with galley and toilet and electricity is available even
on board.

The
final result is impressive but it took a long time to get there. The
first piles were driven into the ground in March 2014,
but we were soon confronted with a huge setback: a cocaine criminal
intending to launder money had acquired a neighbouring piece of land and
enlarged his property (without a permit, but what can you do about that?)
by constructing a sheetpile wall, 40 meters out of the river bank. As a
result our little harbour silted up completely with 6 feet of mud. The
in January 2015 constructed jetty
en
(note P and JW's teamwork) turned out to be way too short, but also some
of the boats touched the ground at halftide.

In
November we ordered a second set of piles and in January we extended the
jetty and built the floating slipway.
and
The marina is now finished and finally we can reach our boats without taking
a mud bath.
Total
costs: around
€ 13K. A trifle when split over 10 boats and 3 years.

We also have already welcomed our first guests: Riens en Ineke
Elswijk with “Zeezwaluw”. Two ALC’s in our little marina, life is
beautiful!